


Soulbound

by Night_StormCaptain



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Soulmate AU, With A Twist, kallura on the side, piano pidge, pidgance, plance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 07:19:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13875945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_StormCaptain/pseuds/Night_StormCaptain
Summary: Choosing your soulmate is a solemn, once-in-a-lifetime occasion that requires thought, deliberation, and absolute certainty... but that's not an option for Pidge and Lance.





	Soulbound

It was supposed to be a straightforward visit to a peaceful planet: Land on Vordus-8.  Attend the new Prime Minister’s inauguration.  Officially induct Vordus-8 into the Coalition.  Go sightseeing, time permitting.  The Galra weren’t supposed to show up and attack unexpectedly.  Lance wasn’t supposed to have a brush with death.  And Pidge  _ certainly  _ wasn’t supposed to make a split-second decision that would change the course of both of their lives.

The day after the inauguration found Team Voltron picnicking in an open, grassy area high in the mountains, next to a cliff overlooking distant forests, rivers, and lakes.  The view was breathtaking, to be sure, but without her Paladin armor and the jet pack that came with it, Pidge couldn’t help being wary of the drop.

The sun was shining, the Vordian sky was vivid teal, and the temperature could not have been more perfect as the Paladins and their companions enjoyed the actual, non-goo meal Hunk had prepared.  As Keith bit into a sandwich, the jagged, cryptically curling crimson soulmark all down his right arm began to glow faintly.  “What did you put in this to make it so tasty, Hunk?” he demanded, staring at the sandwich as though suspicious of its deliciousness.

Hunk shrugged.  “Honestly, I’m not sure.  Some sort of spicy Vordian pepper-like vegetable, something that Vordian chef called murglak, that tasty shredded steak we had at the banquet, and a splash of my special sauce.”  He tried to brush off the compliment, but from the faint yellow gleam from beneath his right sleeve, it was clear he was pleased with himself.  Pidge decided she had to try one of the sandwiches herself and was not disappointed.

The afternoon passed in a similarly leisurely manner as the Paladins and their companions enjoyed a day free of fighting and stress.  As the shadows lengthened, Lance stood, wandering toward the cliffside.  “Look at that,” he breathed, beckoning the others over.

Pidge came to stand beside him, trying to figure out what he was talking about.  “So… what are we looking at?”

“That.”  Lance pointed at the horizon, and Pidge caught her breath.  Although billions of sunsets happened every day throughout the universe, she had to admit that this one was especially breathtaking, with Vordus-8’s greenish sun turning the clouds vivid shades of blue, green, and gold and lighting up the countryside far below them with mellow fire.

“It’s beautiful,” Allura murmured.

“Not as beautiful as you, Princess,” Lance said, waggling his eyebrows and completely ruining the mood.  Pidge jabbed him with her elbow, telling herself it was because Allura and Keith were on their way toward a relationship and she didn’t want Lance to mess that up; it certainly had nothing to do with her own feelings.

“Ow,” Lance complained, rubbing his side and giving her an offended look.  “What was that for?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to respond, but then motion in the distance caught her eye.  “Wait, what’s that?”

“Hey, don’t change the subject!” Lance said indignantly.

“Shush,” Pidge insisted.  “Does anyone else see that?”

The other Paladins squinted at the horizon.  “I can’t tell what it is,” said Hunk ruefully.

“They,” Keith corrected.  “There’s two -- no, three --  _ five  _ of them?”

Allura held up a hand to block out the blinding light of the sunset.  “I think they’re getting closer…”  Suddenly, her eyes widened.  “Everyone get back from the edge!”

Keith and Hunk immediately backed up while Pidge squinted at the ever-enlarging dots.  “What are they?”

“Galra fighters.”  Allura’s tone was urgent.  “We need to get back to the Castle,  _ now.” _

Pidge nodded and took a step back, and later was very glad she did.  The fighters began blasting at them, and the Paladins raced toward the cover of the trees.  “Coran!” Allura yelled into her communicator.  “You need to bring the Castle to our location as quickly as possible!  The Galra are here!”

Suddenly, with a loud  _ bang  _ and a crumbling sound, a chunk of the cliff began to fall, revealing that they had spent the afternoon on an outcropping of the mountainside.  As luck would have it, Lance was on the chunk of falling rock.  He leaped for the new edge, his determined expression transforming into one of panic as it became clear he wasn’t going to make it.

Pidge acted without thinking.  As Lance passed the apex of his trajectory and began to fall in earnest, she reached out, managing to grasp his left hand in her own.  As their palms met, she felt a warm tingle race up her arm, but she couldn’t focus on that now.  Yanking with all her might, she managed to pull him toward her, changing his path enough that instead of falling to an early death, he crashed straight into her, sending both of them tumbling in a confused tangle of arms and legs.

The Castle soared into view, its defenses blasting at the small Galra force, and Pidge and Lance hastily extricated themselves from each other.  As they sprinted toward the Castle, Pidge was hyper-conscious of Lance’s shock, tension, and residual terror tinged with relief.  She glanced over at him to make sure he was okay, and her heart sank as her gaze landed on his left arm.  The arm that should have lacked a soulmark until he chose to soulbind with someone.  The arm that was now clearly marked with a very familiar curling, vine-looking pattern.

There was no use denying it to herself.  Pidge recognized that soulmark -- she had traced it up and down her right arm countless times, wondered who she would soulbind with, imagined it adorning the left arm of any number of her crushes.  Since meeting her team at the Garrison, she had often imagined it on the arm of a certain rakish fighter pilot.  Never once had she suspected it would ever actually appear there, and especially not by accident.   _ It can’t be true,  _ she thought stubbornly.   _ There’s no way that’s my soulmark.   _ She rolled up her left sleeve to prove it to herself, only to find her fears confirmed in the form of a blue wave-like soulmark swirling from her left palm up into her sleeve.  For better or worse, she and Lance were soulmates now.

* * *

“Lance, I’m sorry!” Pidge repeated for what must have been the millionth time.

Lance turned away, trying to ignore the flood of emotions.  Why did girls have so  _ many  _ of them?  Guilt, regret, desperation, and anger, sure, but also a tinge of delight -- some part of Pidge was very happy indeed to have soulbound with Lance, and Lance felt disgust at having been manipulated creeping at his throat.

The trouble with being soulmates was that she could sense his emotions as well. “I promise, I really didn’t mean to soulbind with you!” Pidge cried, and Lance knew if he turned around to look at her, he’d see the tears in her eyes.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before taking away my choice in the matter!”

And suddenly, anger overtook Pidge’s mess of feelings.  “What did you want me to do, let you fall to your death?”

“I don’t know, okay?”  Lance stood, annoyed with the conversation, the whole soulmate thing, and especially Pidge.  “I don’t want to even look at you right now.”  He stalked from the lounge, his sense of Pidge’s emotions slightly lessening as he left her presence.  Despite the increased distance and the walls between them, both literal and metaphorical, he could feel her anguish all the way back to his room.

* * *

Despite their best efforts, the soulbond between Pidge and Lance continued to strengthen, and they began actively avoiding each other to avoid having to deal with the other’s emotions.  Unsurprisingly, the rest of the team picked up on this, and so it was that the next less busy quintant about an Earth week later found a very concerned Allura at Pidge’s door.

“What do you want?”  Pidge’s voice came out much more hostile than she had intended.

“I want to know what’s going on between you and Lance,” Allura replied without preamble.  “May I come in?”

Pidge huffed but opened the door wide enough to admit the Black Paladin.  “Fine.  Make yourself at home.”

Allura carefully climbed over the piles of clothing and dismantled technology to perch on the edge of Pidge’s bunk.  “Shiro explained your soulmarks to me when I first met all of you, but that doesn’t explain why you and Lance have been so at odds lately.”

“It’s because usually people  _ choose  _ to soulbind.”  Pidge tried and failed to keep the bitterness out of her voice.  “With Lance and me, it happened by accident, so while we can pick up on one another’s emotions and even hear a few of each other’s thoughts, that doesn’t mean we have to like it.”

Allura proved to have good intuition even without being Pidge’s soulmate.  “You have… feelings for him, don’t you?”

Pidge nodded miserably.  “He hates me now, though.  If I ever had a chance with him, it disappeared when I took his choice away.”

“When you saved his life,” Allura corrected.

“Yeah, well, that’s not how he sees it.”

Allura scowled.  “If Lance doesn’t realize what he has right in front of him, he’s even denser than I thought.”  Unexpectedly, she pulled Pidge into a hug.

While Pidge appreciated the gesture, she just wasn’t in the mood for it, pulling away after a few seconds.  “I just don’t know what I'm supposed to do about all this.”

Allura hummed.  “I don’t know, but I do know the mice made a discovery last night that may interest you.”

Pidge sat up straighter, intrigued.  “What did they find?”

“An old invention of my father’s that never really caught on,” said Allura.  “I can guarantee you’ve never seen anything like it.”

Pidge stood.  “Where is it?”

“Follow me.”  Allura left the cabin, leading Pidge through the castle down to a closet just off the ballroom.  She quickly unlocked the closet and began to pull out something very large.  “He never did… come up with… a name for it,” Allura panted as she dragged out whatever-it-was.  “It was supposed to be the next big musical innovation, but nobody could get the hang of playing it.”

Allura stopped and stepped aside, allowing Pidge to get a good look a large, oddly-shaped wooden box with myriad strings inside.  An odd-looking system of hammers seems to be the method for making sound with it, activated by pressing rows of purple and blue keys… Pidge laughed out loud when she realized.  “It’s a piano!”

Allura blinked.  “A what?”

“An instrument we have on Earth,” Pidge explained.  “It looks a little different, but the structure is basically the same, and it’s probably the most widely-played instrument on the planet.”  She pulled out a frequency sensor that had come in handy more times than she could count, set it to detect sound waves, and hit the key that would have been A on an Earth piano.  Somehow, even after ten thousand years, the note’s frequency was still a perfect 440Hz.  Delighted, she sat down on the bench and spread her fingers over the keys, glancing at Allura.  “May I?”

Allura laughed delightedly.  “Be my guest!”

Pidge needed no further prompting.  After stumbling through a few scales, she began to regain her feel for the instrument, gaining confidence as her hands remembered the skills they had possessed before she became the Green Paladin.  Soon she was gliding through lively sonatas, coaxing out haunting laments, and pounding out her favorite showtunes, too engrossed to notice when Allura quietly sidled from the room.  The only times she glitched were when she caught sight of her left hand, occasionally missing notes when met with the still-unfamiliar sight of Lance’s soulmark.

Completely absorbed in playing, Pidge failed to notice when the ballroom door opened once more, and even the increased sense from her soulmarks escaped her notice… that is, until Lance spoke, snapping her from her piano-induced reverie.  “I didn’t know we had a piano here.”

“Gah!  Lance!”  Pidge jolted away from the piano, cutting herself off mid-song.  “What are you doing here?”  Her words came out more hostile than she intended.

Lance scowled.  “I mean, I thought maybe we could talk, since you seemed to be in a better mood than usual, but I guess that’s not happening.”  He turned to leave.

“Wait!  That’s not -- I didn’t --”  Pidge’s less-than-cohesive sentences fell on deaf ears as Lance stalked from the room.  The fleeting joy of her music long gone, she buried her head in her arms, wishing she could block out Lance’s mix of confusion and hostility.

* * *

The next quintant, Team Voltron was back on duty, working to free planet Morixos from the Galra’s oppressive presence.  Lance and Pidge were able to set aside their argument long enough to form Voltron and defeat the fleet stationed in the system, but the battle left everyone emotionally taxed.

The blue-skinned Morixite leader seemed to pick up on this as the Paladins and Coran trooped tiredly into the celebratory banquet in their honor.  “What is wrong, Paladins?” she asked, and Lance hoped she wouldn’t overbalance as she tilted her oversized head to one side.  “This was a great victory, yes?  Let us celebrate!”

Hunk’s soulmark gleamed as servants brought out tray after tray of exotic-looking food, most of it blue, but nobody else seemed able to muster much energy.  Lance ate without gusto, unable to even enjoy the attention several charming blue girls were lauding him with.   _ That whole fight was way too close,  _ he reflected grimly, forced to the realization that it was because of the tension between him and Pidge that it had taken them four tries to form Voltron.  From the shame and general grumpiness emanating from Pidge in waves, he figured she felt the same.

Sure enough, as the leader finished her heartfelt speech thanking Team Voltron for everything they had done, Pidge stood.  “I, ah… I need some time alone.”  Her voice shook slightly, and nobody tried to stop her as she fled from the room.  Lance watched her go, wondering if he should go after her.   _ Maybe I’ve been too harsh with her…  _  But, no, he could sense her feelings of stifledness, her desire to be anywhere but that banquet hall at that moment.  Near him.  It hurt, but he understood, and with a sigh, he turned back to the banquet table.

“Hey there, handsome,” said a sultry voice.  Lance turned and saw a Mixolite girl who, despite her resemblance to a bobblehead, was quite pretty.  “You look stressed.  Maybe you could use a back rub?”

Normally, Lance would have been tempted, but his mind was elsewhere that night.  “No, thanks.”

The girl looked hurt.  “Are you sure?  I give good ones, especially to boys as cute as you.”

“I said no,” Lance repeated a little bit harshly.  “Would you leave me alone?”  He pretended not to notice the other Paladins staring at him in surprise as the Mixolite stalked away in a huff.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything, Lance?” Allura asked, forcing a change of subject.  “It’s impolite not to, you know.”

“And it’s really good,” Hunk added.  “You have got to try the blue stuff!”

“Hunk, that’s literally all of it,” Lance deadpanned.

“Exactly!”

Lance had just begun reaching for a piece of elaborate blue bread when a burning tingle raced up his left arm.  “Ow!”

“What’s wrong?” Allura asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Lance felt a flood of emotions that were not his own -- surprise, panic, anger.  Intense pain.  He launched to his feet.  “Pidge!”

“Didn’t she say she wanted to be alone?” Keith protested as Lance sprinted for the door.

“I have to help her!”  Lance knew he wasn’t making sense, but there wasn’t time to explain.  Ignoring the disapproving looks of everyone in the room, he sprinted back toward the Castle.  As he ran, Blue seemed to sense his desperation, swooping from her hangar to scoop him up in her mouth.  “Thanks, girl,” he painted, trying to get his breath back.

_ Now… where is she?   _ Lance thrust the control sticks forward, zooming over the planet’s azure surface at full throttle, trying to steer in the direction where he could feel Pidge’s emotions most strongly.  “C’mon, old Blue, faster,” he muttered through clenched teeth as his Lion swooped upward, heading for the planet’s atmosphere.

Lance followed the sensation of Pidge’s fear and defiance, wincing at the burning sensation from her soulmark.   _ I’m coming, Pidge,  _ he thought determinedly, pushing Blue to go faster still.

And suddenly, with a tingle from his palm to his heart, a thought pierced Lance’s mind that was not his own.   _ Lance? _

_ The soulbond!   _ Lance had heard of soulmates occasionally communicating telepathically, but it was a rare occurrence even on Earth.   _ It’s me.   _ Lance put all his mental energy into transmitting the thought to Pidge.

_ I’m in a Galra fighter.   _ It was clear Pidge was trying desperately to hold it together.   _ I think we’re headed for Galra Central Command. _

_ I’m on my way.   _ Lance could have cried with relief.  Pidge was a captive, but for the moment, she was relatively safe.  He’d make it to her in no time.  As these thoughts took over his mind, he felt a wave of hope from Pidge drown out her panic, and he urged Blue onward, determined to reach her before she reached Galra Central Command.

* * *

“So, little Paladin, want to hear what Haggar’s going to do with you once I turn you in and claim my reward?”

Pidge didn’t, but as her entire body seemed to be in a temporary state of paralysis due to whatever the smug Galra officer had hit her with, she didn’t get a say in the matter.  Making a valiant effort to tune out his grating voice as he droned about all the terrible tortures Haggar would put her through, Pidge gritted her teeth, trying to force her mouth to open.

About a varga later (though it felt like deca-phoebs), Pidge regained a bit of control, forcing her jaw open.  “You won’t live to regret this,” she spat.

“Oho!  The little Paladin speaks!”  The Galra officer glanced offhandedly in her direction.  “I suppose that means it’s wearing off.  Can’t have that, now, can we?”  With a flick of his wrist, he jabbed her again with his stunner, simultaneously giving her an electric (or quintessential?) shock and injecting something into her veins.  Pidge’s body spasmed, and if she could have screamed, she would have; it felt like she was being torn apart from the inside.

The Galra officer studied her face, smirking at what he saw.  “Much better,” he approved.  Pidge found herself wishing telepathic murder was possible.  Thankfully, the agony faded unnaturally quickly, replaced by stifling numbness.

Sudden sensation caught her off guard as a tingle down her left arm broke through the maddening nothingness.   _ I can see fighters ahead.  Which one are you in? _

_ The lead one,  _ Pidge replied hurriedly.   _ I can’t move, so you’ll have to find a way to get me out. _

_ Got it.   _ Pidge reached out through her soulbond, clinging tightly to Lance’s determination and the knowledge that he was on his way for her.  Hope for her rescue battled with worry, which she stamped down.   _ Of course  _ he’d be okay.   _ Of course  _ they’d make it through this and be safe and together in no time.

A voice came on over the fighter’s communicator.  “Blue Lion approaching, sir.  What are your orders?”

“Blast!”  The Galra officer let loose a string of what Pidge assumed was profanity.  “Shoot it down!  Keep it away from my ship!”  Pidge felt the fighter accelerate to escape the Lion.

_ They’re turning around to attack!   _ Panic filtered through the soulbond along with Lance’s ‘voice.’   _ I can’t tell which one was in the lead! _

_ Ignore them,  _ Pidge insisted.   _ The guy who has me is trying to get away! _

Through her soulbond, Pidge could imagine Lance taking a deep breath and setting his jaw.  Moments later, there was a muffled  _ boom,  _ and the fighter jolted.   _ Are you wearing your armor, Pidge?!   _ The sudden thought from Lance came accompanied by a surge of panic.

_ Yes… what are you planning?   _ Pidge had a feeling she knew, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

In the silent oblivion of space, Pidge couldn’t hear the Blue Lion’s weapons firing, but she heard them impact the fighter and felt the jolts as the Galra officer desperately tried to keep the ship steady.  Moments later, Pidge was blinded by a brilliant, fiery flash and crash that launched her out into nothingness, helpless to stop herself from spinning or control her trajectory away from the explosion.

Pidge’s flailing, chaotic flight lasted maybe a dobosh before sound returned and she landed heavily on something hard and flat.  “Pidge!  Are you okay?”  Black spots danced before her eyes, and the last thing she saw before consciousness faded entirely was a very concerned Lance.

* * *

“This isn’t my fault, is it?”  Lance stared worriedly at the motionless form of his soulmate floating catatonic in the healing pod.

“It was the fault of the Galra who abducted her, not you,” Allura assured him.

“For the twenty-seventh time,” Keith muttered.

Coran hummed.  “She appears to have been exposed to small doses of concentrated quintessence, coupled with some sort of muscle-freezing drug.  She’ll be okay, but it might take a few quintants.”

“Okay.”  As the rest of the Paladins and Coran left the room, Lance approached the pod.  “I know you can’t hear me right now, but I need to get this off my chest.”  He took a deep breath.  “I… I’m sorry.  When you soulbound with me, I thought… I didn’t know what to think.  I pushed you away when I should have been thanking you, even though I could feel how much it was hurting you.  And, well, if you want the truth, it hurt me, too.  I care about you a lot, Pidge.  I mean, understanding you as well as I do now with the whole soulmate thing, it would be hard not to, but it’s more than that.  All this time we’ve been in space, I’ve realized you make me smile like no one ever has.  You’re smart, and funny, and brave, and kind… I guess what I’m trying to say is, every time I flirted with alien girls, every time I tried to get Allura to notice me, I was lying to myself.  Deep down, it’s always been you.  The truth is, I’m in love with you, and I’ve been a real idiot to not realize it sooner.”  Lance squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his palms against the surface of the healing pod as if to pierce through Pidge’s coma with love alone.

Searing heat.  Lance gasped, his eyes snapping open just in time to see Pidge's soulmarks begin to glow -- a quick look revealed that his own were glowing as well, more brightly than he had ever seen.  The monitors beside the healing pod went haywire for a moment before settling to a normal, healthy pattern.  The surface of the pod dissolved, and Pidge collapsed into Lance’s arms.  “Lance…?” she murmured, her voice ragged.

“I’m here, Pidge.”  How was this possible?  He held her tightly against his chest, gently rubbing her back.

“I heard what you said.”  Lance let go of Pidge in surprise.  “About… you know.  This.”  She held out her left arm, where Lance’s soulmark still glowed brilliant blue.

“How, though?  And how are you okay?”

Pidge shrugged.  “Humans have had soulmates for thousands of years, but we still haven’t figured out much about what they can do.  What  _ we  _ can do.”

“Hey, if it means my soulmate doesn’t have to spend several more quintants in a healing pod, I’m fine with that.”

Pidge shuffled her feet.  “So, um… about the whole accidental soulbinding thing… we’re cool, right?”  Like, you’re not still upset about  _ mmmf _ !”  She let out a startled noise as Lance shut her up with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Check me out on the blue hellsite @rainforest-rosegold


End file.
